About
A girl and her God
When I was a “little girl,” I wasn’t exactly a little girl. My favorite day of the week was Thursday because that’s when my mom bought groceries.
WELCOME
I can still hear the rumble of her Diesel Oldsmobile backing into the carport. I’d run out and wait for her to pop the trunk, then I’d stand there and survey the goods: chocolate chip cookies, Coca-Cola, Toaster Streudel and more. What a thrill!
Because I was far more into eating than exercising, this problem/love affair continued well into my 20’s. I made efforts to lose weights for various occasions, like squeezing into bridesmaids’ dresses my friends chose on my behalf. Never believing I was thin enough, I restricted my eating to an unhealthy point.
In my late 20’s, something strange happened. I began overeating even when I did not want to. Despite efforts to exercise and make “good choices” with food, I often found myself compulsively eating more than I was hungry for. I regretted my lack of self-control and vowed to try harder the next day.
Eventually I learned that I had what therapists call “disordered binge eating”. Over seven years, I’d begin to talk with friends who shared my journey, attend counseling sessions and support groups and read books by various, helpful authors. As healing began to come, I knew I wanted to help other women if I ever found my way to freedom.
That day finally came in 2012 when I ran the first Releasity course in my home, bringing the key principles together into one learning experience. Since then, Releasity has occurred in churches and online. This site and the Releasity course are the result of years of learning how to be healthy God’s way plus the spiritual insights I gathered in my journal along the way. I often imagined I’d share this transforming knowledge with other women and that time has come!
Please enjoy the website and join us for a Releasity course. I’d love to hear from you!
—Joy
TESTIMONIAL
“Joy’s vulnerability, humor, and wisdom are just a few of the gifts that she gives when ministering to women. Her curriculum, combined with her teaching, opened my eyes to look at eating in a completely new way. Joy was intentional to direct women in connecting with God and with one another. Joy is incredibly gifted in teaching women and leading group discussions. Her ministry has had a huge impact on my life, and I am so thankful!”
Bio
Joy Mast is a speaker, teacher and writer who loves to point God’s people back to their loving heavenly Father. She was a missionary in Europe and a youth minister in the Washington, DC area before returning to her home state of North Carolina. Her hope is to communicate God’s love and desire for His people in a winsome and compelling way.
Joy lives in the Charlotte, NC area with her husband, Steve, a graphic designer with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Joy and Steve have two daughters (Greta, 12, and Elizabeth, 10) and Joy is currently writing a book to accompany the Releasity course. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Communication Studies and studied to become a speech therapist at James Madison University. She enjoys memorizing Scripture, bringing friends and family together, laughing, and starting to read new books, though she rarely finishes any of them. Fall-scented candles, coffee and the wonders of nature are a few of her favorite things.
TESTIMONIAL
“I wanted to thank you again, for your example, for your ministry, the humor and clarity you brought to our retreat, for being down to earth and vulnerable, for listening, and for praying for our group and for me.”